History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 75

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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WILLIAM BENNETT-Born near Columbus, Franklin county, Ohio, November 15, 1834. At the age of 12 years his parents moved to Muscatine, Iowa, and two years later moved to Knox county, Illinois, whence, in 1850, he, with one brother started across the plains to Oregon, arriving in Linn county in the fall of that year, where he lived until 1854, when he came to Benton county, and took up a donation claim four miles south of Philomath. In 1879 he purchase:l his present farm of 334 acres, ten miles west of Corvallis. Mr. Bennett also owns a farm two miles from Corvallis, and a valuable farm in Wasco county, where he is engaged in farming and stock raising.

HON. ROYAL A. BENSEL-Was born in Cassville, Wisconsin, and is now48 years of age. His father, Dr. Bensel, was born in Pennsylvania and a graduate of the Pennsylvania State Medical University, and in early days emigrated to Wisconsin. When our subject was but a mere child his parents moved to Clayton county, Iowa, and at the age of 13 he became "devil" on the Clayton Co. Herald and there spent three years at the printer's trade. In 1849 Mr. Bensel's mother died, and in 1854 he, with his father, crossed the plains to California, where he followed mining for seven years. He then enlisted in Company D. Fourth California Infantry, and with his regiment came to Oregon and followed a soldier's life for three years. On his discharge, in 1864, he came to Yaquina Bay and embarked in the milling business.

In 1871 he was appointed Inspector of Customs for Yaquina Bay. In 1868 he was elected to the State Legislature, and again elected to the same office in 1876.

HON. COLBERT P. BLAIR-This well known and highly respected resident of Corvallis, a native of Burke county, North Carolina, born January 30, 1805, is the son of Colbert and Jane (Murry) Blair. His boyhood was passed in his birth-place until 18 years of age; his parents then moved to Kentucky and afterwards to Illinois. Mr. Blair learned the trade of engineer, in which capacity he ran steamers from St. Louis to Natchez. In 1837 he located in Lee county, Iowa, from whence, in 1853, he emigrated with his family to Oregon, coming direct to Benton county, where he has since resided. In 1862 Mr. Blair was elected to the State Legislature. Although now in his Both year and on the sunset side of life, he is as hale and hearty as the majority of men at 60. He is genial, kind and generous, and one whom it is a pleasure to meet. He now has lived to see forty grand children and nineteen great grand children. It is our sincere wish that he may live to see these num- bers doubled.

THOMAS J. BLAIR-Was born in Bond county, Illinois, June 11, 1830, but at the age of six years went with his parents to Lee county, lowa, where he resided and engaged in farming until the spring of 1853. Mr. Blair and his wife now crossed the plains to Oregon, arriving in October of that year; but in March, 1854, he removed from Oregon City to Benton county, and first settled on the South Fork of Mary's river, on land now owned by Mr. Spears. While residing on this claim

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our subject found the country in the throes of a civil war, and like every patriotic citizen he determined to contribute towards the maintenance of the Union, therefore, in 1864 he enlisted in Company A., First Oregon Infantry, and with that corps served nearly two years. Upon obtaining his discharge he disposed of his farm, removed to Yaquina Bay and there dwelt for three years, when, transferring his residence in 1878, to the city of Corvallis, he engaged in a warehouse and grain-storing busi- ness. In the spring of 1884 Mr. Blair was elected to the office of Treasurer of Benton county on the Republican ticket, and is still the able and efficient holder of the position. Married in Lee county, Iowa, in 1851, Miss Lucinda J. Montgomery, who died June 30, 1881, and had a family, viz: Martha N. (now Mrs. F. H. Sawtell), Nellie and Clara.

WILLIAM BLODGET -- After whom the beautiful little valley that now bears his name was called, is a native of Jefferson county, New York, born October 8, 1811. In 1847 he was one of the hardy pioneers that braved the dangers of a trip across the plains to Oregon. In the spring of 1848 he came to Benton county, and a short time after located in what is now known as Blodget's Valley, where he has since resided and followed farming.

WILLIAM T. A. H. BOLES-Was born in Indiana, February 20, 1840, and resided in that State until 1860, when he came west to Kansas. September 20, 1861, he enlisted in company B, of the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, with whom he served and followed the fortunes of his regiment for three years and two months. He then, on his discharge, returned to Kansas, and in the fall of 1878 came to Oregon and the following spring came to Philomath, where he is now a respected resident, and in 1884 was elected Recorder of that city.

JAMES W. BRASFIELD-Was born in Platt county, Missouri, January 16, 1840. His father Thomas W. R. Brasfield, was a pioneer of 1821 to Missouri. At the age of fourteen our subject entered his father's store where he received his early education in the mercantile business. In 1860 he went to St. Joseph, where he clerked for two years ; he then joined a party of young men to seek their fortune in the Golden State, but on arriving near Fort Hall their route was changed and they came to Oregon. In 1863, Mr. Brasfield went to Harrisburg and entered the employ of Hon. Hiram Smith, and one year later was admitted as a partner under the firm name of Smith & Brasfield. This firm continued for ten years, when Mr. B. sold out and started a store in Junction City where he did business until 1881, when he sold out and selected Yaquina Bay as his future home and at that time opened his present general store in Newport. In 1883 he purchased the well known Seal Rock property, one of the most delightful places to be found on the Pacific Coast, a description of which will be found in its proper place in this work. Mr. Brasfield was married in Harrisburg, Linn county, January 1, 1865, to Miss Lydia Owens, a native of Kansas, and a daughter of Col. Henry Owens, of Topeka ; by this union they have an interesting family of five children, Arthur S., Hiram, Thomas W. R., Sank O. and Sadie.

GEORGE S. BRIGGS -- Is the proprietor of a large fruit orchard located one mile east of Toledo on Yaquina Bay is a native of Medina county, Ohio, and born October 27, 1834. When two years of age his parents moved to Racine county, Wisconsin, where they lived until 1850, when they moved to Fayette county, Iowa, where Mr. Briggs lived until coming to Oregon. February 28, 1864, he enlisted in Co. F. 9th Vet. Vol. of Iowa, with whom he served until June, 1865. He then returned to his home in Iowa and in 1870 came to Oregon and remained in Portland until 1876, when he come to Yaquina Bay and purchased his present farm consisting of three hundred and ninety acres, on which he has an orchard of over six thousand trees four thousand of which are Italian Prunes.

SOLOMON K. BROWN .-- This venerable pioneer, is a native of Ohio, where he was born February 6, 1810, and is therefore five years beyond the allotted three score years and ten. Having resided respectively in Clark, Miami and Spauld- ing counties, all in Ohio, until the spring of 1847, at that time, with his wife and three children, he set out to cross the plains to Oregon with ox teams from Independence. After a journey occupying six months and seventeen days Mr. Brown arrived where now we have the city of Corvallis, and after a few days delay, took up the donation claim of six hundred and forty acres, now occupied by Mr. Porter. In 1849, our subject proceeded to the gold mines of California, but two months hard work was sufficient to convince him that the yield of gold was not commensurate with the labor expended, he therefore took passage to Portland from San Francisco in a brig, which ultimately made Astoria after a voyage of seven weeks, whence the remainder of the voyage was accomplished in an Indian canoe. Our subject now returned to his home in Benton county and there remained until April, 1850, when selling his claim he purchased the farm of seven hundred and fifty acres, located two miles and a half southeast of Philomath, which he now owns. About ten years ago Mr. Brown moved into the town of Philomath where he now resides, enjoying the well earned repose which a long life of activity entitles him to. Mr. Brown has never been an aspirant for office, although he was once elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, but never qualified.

MAJOR JAMES BRUCE-Was born in Harrison county, Indiana, November 3, 1827. Five years later his father moved to New Albany, Floyd county, same State, and engaged in the mercantile business, where they resided until 1839. In that year his parents moved to Adams county, Illinois, when, a short time thereafter, his father died, leaving a family of wife and seven children. In 1846 his mother and family returned to New Albany, where our subject started to learn the black. smith's trade. In 1847 he joined a train bound for Texas, remaining there until 1849, when he returned to Illinois and engaged in boating on the Mississippi river. In the spring of 1850 he again joined a train, this time bound for Oregon, but on the plains the route was changed, and after a trip of six months they arrived at Hangtown (now Placerville), California. Mr. Bruce immediately proceeded to the mines which he followed with good success until fall of 1851 ; he then took up a ranch in Scott's Valley, Siskiyou county, California. In 1852 he sold out and came to Oregon and began merchandising in Jacksonville. On the breaking out of the Indian war of 1853 Mr. Bruce enlisted as a private, from which he was promoted for meritorious service to Captain, and at the close of the second Rogue River war, in 1856, had been promoted to Major, an office he filled with distinction, as, there were but few who took a more active or braver part in the Indian wars than Major Bruce as will be seen by the perusal of the Indian wars embodied in this work. On the close of hostilities and the removal of the Indians to the

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Siletz Reservation our subject took the contract to plow and fence part of the Reservation. He then followed different occu. pations until 1862 when he engaged.in the stock trade, and while in that business in 1864 he accomplished a feat that is seldom equaled in driving a drove of hogs from the Umpqua Valley, Douglas county, to Boise Basin, Idaho, a distance of over 700 miles, a venture which proved very successful, as he sold the most of them at $1 per It. He then returned to Benton county and purchased his present farm of 320 acres, ten miles south of Corvallis, where now this well known veteran is enjoying the comforts of a peaceful home. In the spring of 1857 he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Kinney (now deceased) daugh- ter of Col. James Kinney, an early pioneer to Oregon.

WILLIAM H. BRUNK-Was born in Lincoln county, Missouri, November 13. 1845, and is the son of Harrison Brunk, an honored pioneer of Polk county, this State, in 1849. Our subject came with his parents to Oregon in the above year and remained under the parental roof in Polk county until grown to manhood, he then found employment in the mines and on different railroads until 1883, when he came to Corvallis where he now resides.

PERREN BRYANT-Was born in Garrett county, Kentucky, in 1824. When he was nine years of age his parents moved to Missouri where our subject lived until spring of 1853, when he, with his wife and one child, crossed the plains to Oregon, and first settled in Lane county. In 1862 he came to Benton county and purchased his present farm and built the well known Yaquina House, located six miles east of Little Elk post-office, where he is engaged in general farming and stock raising.

HENRY P. BUTLER-Was born in Jackson county, Tennessee, August 11, 1826, and there lived with his parents until March, 1850, when he, with his wife, moved to Arkansas, for one year, when he again moved to Berry county, Missouri, and remained in that State until 1856, when he took up his residence in Adams county, Illinois, and resided in that county until April 28, 1864, when he, with his wife and six children, crossed the plains with ox-teams to Oregon, arriving at the Grand Ronde, September 27th of the same year. The following August he came to Benton county, locating on Yaquina bay, where he owns 300 acres of valuable land and engaged in farming, two miles east of Toledo. Was united in marriage in Overton county, Tenn., to Miss Juda E. Smith, a native of that State ; by this union they have six children.

HON. JOHN BURNETT -- Was born in Louisiana, Pike county, Missouri, on the 4th of July, 1831. His father died when the subject of our sketch was 15 years old, leaving a widow and five children with but little of this world's goods. Young Burnett sat about helping his mother (for whom he had a strong affection) support and raise the family. He first engaged with E. Draper & Brothers, merchants in Louisiana, to tend in their store. After remaining with them about a year he became tired of the confinement in the store and hired out to work on a flat boat on the Mississippi river, boating wood to St. Louis and giving his earnings to his mother. In the spring of 1849 he was offered an outfit to California by a relative, and though he was less than 18 years of age, he gladly accepted the offer and started across the plains to seek his fortune in the gold mines. He engaged in mining and soon earned enough to pay for his outfit, which he sent back to his friend the first opportunity. He followed mining for about two years with fair success for a boy, when he returned to his native State, and in the spring of 1853 again crossed the plains with a band of cattle. After selling his cattle he engaged a second time in mining in Nevada county, California, where he worked for about two years, when his health became very much impaired and he gave up mining. In the spring of 1858 he came to Oregon and settled in Benton county, where he has resided ever since. The next year after reaching Oregon he was married to Miss Martha Hinton, and about that time he commenced reading law with Colonel Kelsay, of Cor- vallis. By hard study and close application he was enabled a year afterwards to pass an examination of a committee composed of Col. Kelsay, Hon. J.C. Powell and Hon. Richard Williams, and was admitted to practice law in the Second Judicial Dis- trict by Hon. R. E. Stratton, Judge of said District. He soon afterwards opened an office in Corvallis and engaged in practicing law, where he has enjoyed a lucrative practice for years. He is a democrat in politics, of the Jackson Benton school, has always opposed the Calhoun Doctrine, and has always been ready to give a " reason for the faith that is in him," however unpopular it might be. In 1868 he was elected a democratic Elector for Seymour and Blair, upon the same ticket with Hon. James H. Slater and Hon. S. F. Chadwick. In 1870 he was elected County Judge of Benton county. In 1872 he ran for Congress but was defeated by Hon. Joseph Wilson by a small majority. In 1874 he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State and ex-officio Judge of the Second Judicial District as an independent contesting candidate, with his former tutor, Hon. John Kelsay and also Hon. L. F. Mosher. In 1878 he was elected State Senator from Benton county for four years and was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which he resigned in 1880 to accept the democratic nomination to the Supreme Bench. In 1882 he was appointed by Governor Thayer Judge of the Second Judicial District, to fill out part of an unexpired term of Hon. J. F. Watson. Since the expiration of his appointment he has been engaged in practicing his pro- fession. Judge Burnett's services on the Bench and in the Legislature, and his efforts at the bar and on the hustings have made his name familiar throughout the State. He has been engaged in a great number of murder trials for the defense, and his success as a criminnl lawyer has been equal, perhaps, to any in the State. It is claimed by his friends that his efforts in behalf of L. D. Miller, James McCabe, Charles Williams, Frank Reid, Wm. Skelton, - Wheeler. Wm. Abrams and Asa Bur- bank in their several trials for murder, as well as other notable murder cases, place him in the front rank of advocates.

HON. WILLIAM R. CALLAWAY-Was born in Sussex county, Delaware, December 3, 1826. In 1831 his parents moved to Illinois. When 21 years of age his father gave him a farm in Scotland county, Missouri, from whence in 1849 he crossed the plains to California. In 1851 he returned East, and in 1864 came to Oregon; in 1866 to Benton county and purchased his present beautiful farm of 1285 acres. In 1877 Mr. Callaway represented Benton county in the State Legis- lature.

ALEXANDER H. CAMPBELL-Born in Canada, near the present town of Peel, September 12, 1835. When but three years of age his parents moved to Noble county, Illinois, where our subject resided until 27 years of age. He then crossed the plains to California, where he spent three years in the mines. In May, 1861 he came to Oregon and the following

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August came to Benton county and began farming, which he followed until 1877 when he engaged in his present dray and transfer business in Corvallis.

HON. DANIEL CARLILE-Is one of those who crossed the plains in 1851, the year that tried the souls of men upon the emigrant road. ' Cholera and famine walked side by side along the trail, and claimed their victims from the plains to the ocean. Those numerous graves scattered for a thousand miles from The Dalles to the eastward, could they speak, would tell tales of anguish and despair that would moisten the eyes and rent the feelings of any but a heart of stone. Hundreds of emigrants perished. And few now live, who traveled the route that year, but carry in their memory scenes and events painful to recollect and sadder than tears. The arrival in Oregon did not end their trials, for nearly all were poor and provisions were scarce. To such privations and through such a gauntlet, the subject of this brief sketch reached Oregon in 1851. Mr. Carlile is a native of Columbiana county, Ohio. "Born June 24, 1833, when but an infant his parents moved to Richland county, same State; where he resided and learned the carpenter's trade until the spring of 1851, when he came west to Iowa and there joined a train bound for Oregon, arriving at The Dalles October fourteenth, of that year. In January, 1852, Mr. Carlile came to Benton county and the following spring went to the mines in Jackson county, and there in 1853, took part in the Rogue River War, as a member of Capt. John F. Miller's Company. In 1855, he went to California and in 1856 went via. steamer to his Ohio home where he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Miller, and took up his residence in Mansfield. In 1859 he removed to Warsaw, Indiana, and engaged in merchandising until the spring of 1863 ; he then sent his wife and two children via. Panama to Sacramento, California, and he again came across the plains to that place. In 1865 he again came to Oregon and, in 1866, took up his homestead on the Yaquina river a short distance from the present town of Elk City. While living there, and during a threatened outbreak of the Indians on the Siletz, Mr. Carlile was commissioned Captain of State Militia. In 1873 he sold his farm and moved to Corvallis, where he now resides engaged in the general mercantile business. In 1868 he was a candidate for Legislative honors but was defeated by a small majority ; but in 1870 he was again placed in nomination on the Democratic ticket and elected to represent Benton county in the State Legislature. Mr. Carlile has also held the office of Mayor of Corvallis, Justice of the Peace of Elk precinct, and from 1882 to 1884 filled the same office for Corvallis. He is a man that always takes a deep interest, in any enterprise that tends to benefit the community in which he lives, and in politics is, and always has been, a strong, faithful and consistent democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Carlile have a family of four children, viz : Alonzo, Katie, Girty and Claude.

HON. TOLBERT CARTER -- Is one of the earliest residents of Benton county, having now lived for almost forty years within her borders. Born in Morgan county, Illinois, March 6, 1825, and is the son of John and Catherine (Barrett) Carter. He resided in his native State until 1841, when they moved to Holt county, Missouri, where, in 1842, Mr. Carter suffered the irreparable loss of both his parents. He then continued on the farm until the spring of 1846, when with his youngest brother (Smiley, now deceased,) he joined what was known as the Vanderpool train and came across the plains to Oregon, and in the fall of that year settled on the land where he now lives, consisting of five hundred and ninety acres. In 1872 Mr. Carter was selected to represent Benton county in the State Legislature and in 1878 was re-elected to the same office.

SAMUEL CASE .- A prominent resident of Newport, was born in Lubec, Washington county, Maine, May 31, 1831, and receiving a liberal education at the East Maine Conference College of Bucksport, afterwards was employed as teacher. April 5, 1853, he came via. the Nicaraugua route to California, where he engaged in mining and teaching school for four years, he then paid a visit to his Eastern home and, in 1858, returned to California. In April, 1861, he enlisted in Co. D, 4th Inft. California Volunteers, and came with that regiment to Oregon as orderly sergeant of his company. He served with that regi- ment until November, 1864, when he received his discharge. He then was employed as superintendent of farming on the Alsea Reservation for four years. In 1866, Mr. Case came to Yaquina Bay and located the land on which the city of Newport now stands, since which time he has made that place his home, and where he owns large interests on the Bay.

ALONZO CASE-Was born in Lubec, Maine, November 13, 1844, and there resided until the fall of 1863, when he enlisted in Company A 7th Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry, and was afterward, in 1864, consolidated with Company F Ist Main Vet. Volunteers, with which he served until June, 1865. At the battle of Spotsylvania, on May 12, 1864, Mr. Case was wounded by the bursting of a shell, by which he sustained the loss of one eye and a partial loss of the other, which are honorable evidences of his bravery while fighting for the Union. On his return to his home Mr. Case followed different occu- pations until 1875, when he came to Oregon and, in April, 1876, came to Yaquina Bay, where, in 1881, he started his present general merchandise store. Mr. Case is married and has a family of six children.

JESSE H. CATON, Deceased .- This pioneer, the son of Noah and Frances Caton, was born in Carroll county, Missouri, December 10, 1819. In his early boyhood his father moved to what was at that time Bates county, and settled on a stream called Maunaton. He remained with his father most of the time, assisting in the cultivation of the farm, until the spring of 1843, when he started for Oregon in company with the Applegates, Dr. Whitman and Col. Nesmith. He helped to bring the first wagon down the Blue Mountains. The first three years he passed in Oregon he was employed in Oregon City and Forest Grove, at whatever employment he could obtain, making his home with Alvin T. Smith of the latter place. At Almond Hill's, on Wapato Lake, in that neighborhood, he worked one hundred days and received therefor two Spanish cows, these ani- mals being then valued at fifty dollars per head. In the fall of 1846 he located the first claim in what has since become known as the Belknap Settlement. In the spring of 1847 he moved with thirty head of cattle and one horse to his new home, Jacob Hammer and wife keeping house for him during the first twelve month. Mr. Caton was married, December 31, 1848, to Miss Precious Starr, Rev. J. Starr officiating. In 1856 he visited his old home in Missouri, his wife and child accompanying him, and returning to Benton county in the following year, bought a residence in the city of Corvallis, where his family still dwell. April 26, 1863, he started for Eastern Oregon purposing to be absent a few weeks, but after a few hours sickness died in Union county, June 15, 1863, leaving a widow and four children, two boys and two girls, who still own the farm in the Belknap Settlement. He was a member of Barnum Lodge, No. 7, I. O. O. F., also of the Methodist Episcopal church in Corvallis.

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JAMES F. CAUTHORN .- This well known and highly respected grain merchant of Corvallis is a native of the "Sunny South." Born in Essex county, Virginia, July 7, 1838, in 1840 his parents moved to Missouri, where our subject grew to manhood, and found employment in his father's store until 1865, when he, with his parents, crossed the plains to Oregon, and to Benton county. The first three years of his residence in Benton county were spent in teaching school. In 1868 he was elected County Surveyor, and in 1870, embarked in his present extensive warehouse, commission and shipping business. Mr. Cauthorn was twice married, first, in 1862, in Missouri, to Miss Frankie Payne; secondly, to Miss Martha Mulkey, daughter of Johnson Mulkey, a pioneer of 1844, by which union they have two children-Maude and Paul.

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 75

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: